Architects – ‘Lost Forever // Lost Together’

Architects have been building something for a while now. Unashamedly erupting in stature following the 2007 replacement of original vocalist Matt Johnson with their now ubiquitous frontman Sam Carter, the Brighton mob’s metallic assault has gained an increasingly political intent as time has ticked on and stage sizes have swelled. With ‘Lost Forever // Lost Together’, the band have written their manifesto.

Thankfully back on the same ‘mathcore-meets-melodic hardcore’ path of their earlier days, the ghost of 2011’s widely-derided post-hardcore sidestep ‘The Here & Now’ has now been firmly exorcised. In its place stand an Architects who have fine-tuned every aspect of their being. ‘Broken Cross’ and ‘C.A.N.C.E.R.’ are furious cuts of razor-sharp metalcore, the former of which houses the most refined stab of Carter’s atheist lyricism to date. What the album lacks in a ‘Hollow Crown’-style ballad, it makes up for in ‘Red Hypergiant’: a sadly all-too-short burst of 65daysofstatic-esque ambient electronica.

Amongst all this, the complexity of drummer Dan Searle’s groove is thankfully still as evident as ever – he remains a criminally underrated powerhouse of both technicality and candour. However, it is Carter who still reigns supreme. His characteristically melodic scream is Architects’ signature, and with ferocious lead single ‘Naysayer’, Carter’s voice carries not only the force of the track, but also the weighty political message he has brought to the band. “So sick of the sound of people giving up,” he cries – a call to arms for the apathetic generation he is a begrudging part of.

It would be foolish to deny the dogmatic nature of Architects’ recent lyrical content. However, with ‘Lost Forever // Lost Together’, Architects have ceased to sound like student protestors, and finally sound like the revolutionaries they’ve always longed to be. At last indisputably confident in their beliefs and abilities, the band seem ready to take to the streets as much as the stage. With human greed and environmental destruction in their crosshairs, the band close their opus with a delicate ‘The Distant Blue’, humbly pleading with their audience; “This is all we’ve got, so just let it be”.

Unashamedly technical, and yet fiercely direct – ‘Lost Forever // Lost Together’ is the start of a new chapter for one of the UK’s most deservedly successful metalcore outfits. All hail Architects: Part III.

TOM CONNICK